In the late 1800s Manhattan, the concept of cooperative living—multiple families sharing one building—was a novelty, yet a group of developers who hit on the idea determined to move forward with it. They hired New Jersey–based architect George W. DaCunha to design an arresting Queen Anne–style building overlooking Gramercy Park, whose gates have, since 1844, been openable only by neighborhood residents in possession of a key. His ornate affair, completed in 1883, was a masterwork of redbrick, with terra cotta, brownstone, polished granite, and carved foliate accents; a mansard roof; and three of the city’s first hydraulic elevators.
